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Flow Fitness 60 Day Challenge

Join the Flow Fitness 60 Day Challenge!
 January 8, 2017 – March 8, 2018

Deadline to enter: January 3, 2018

Investment:  $60

Purchase at the Front Desk or online through the member portal (under Packages).

As a member of the challenge you will receive:

Trainer Consult: Participants will receive a 30 minute initial assessment. During this time, we’ll take your initial measurements (weight, body composition, and waist/hip), help you set realistic goals you can safely accomplish in 60 days and recommend a fitness plan and lifestyle changes to implement during the 60 days. 

Nutrition:  Access to our Whole30 group which provides information, guidance and support to help you make it through the Whole 30 and transitioning it into your lifestyle.  Check here for more information.

Education:  Access to six workshops taught by various experts spread throughout the program (including kick off meeting, common mistakes, metabolism, shoulder mobility and myofascial release).

Support: Get weekly workout and nutrition tips.  Have a question?  Email our expert training staff and they are happy to give you the support needed throughout the challenge.

Motivation:  Entry into our fitness challenge and personal transformation story contest. 

Fitness Challenge:

Earn the most points and win.

Check Ins = 1 point                                                     Group Exercise Class* = Add 1 point

Small Group Training Session* =  Add 2 points           Personal Training Session** = Add 3 points

*To get credit for Group Exercise and Small Group Training you must be register in the class (either online or at the front desk).

**To get points for Personal Training you must sign in for your scheduled session.

Prizes:

1st Prize: $500 of credit

2nd Prize: $150 of credit

3rd Prize:  $50 of credit

4th Prize:  Flow backpack

5th Prize: Flow t-shirt

Personal transformation story contest

Document your journey including initial and final measurements, before and after pictures, your 60 plan, obstacles you had to overcome and your inspiration.  We’ll pick the winner based on the most compelling results and story.  The winner will receive $500 of credit at Flow Fitness.

CategoriesBlog Nourish.

Understanding Carbohydrates

If every aspect of health and fitness is a tool ot be used then it’s just a matter of which tools are most important and cover the most bases to establish what you put priority on when starting out. Implementing and practicing baby steps are the best way to go, and the steps that cover the most ground should always be the first taken.

The body is not a mysterious black box, that is, there is a rhyme and reason for how it works, and saving certain medical conditions we can predict how it will react to certain conditions and stimuli. For understanding our metabolism that means understanding what we put into it and the role each of the three macronutrients plays in fueling our body’s.

A Carb’s Role

Carbon (carb) + Water (hydrate) = carbohydrate. As far as exactly “what” a carbohydrate is, that’s it. What it does for you and why it is so important is a bit more complicated.

The importance of carbohydrates cannot be understated. They serve as the main source of energy for muscular exertion and all bodily functions. They are responsible for allowing the digestion and utilization of other foods (fats and proteins), provide the immediate caloric energy for heating the body, and can be broken down into glucose and other free sugars that are essential for fueling the brain, nervous system, muscles, and other body tissues.

Carbohydrates are the main fuel source in the human diet. They are broken down into two groups; simple and complex.

Simple carbohydrates, also called “simple sugars” are found mainly in sweets. This includes fruit juice, syrup, molasses, honey, and processed foods like cookies, cereals, and white bread.

Complex Carbohydrates are found in unprocessed, whole foods. This includes rice, potatoes, corn, and most vegetables.

Neither one is necessarily bad for you, but in general for most people it would make for a happier heart to generally lean towards complex carbs over simple carbs.

Carbohydrates are also necessary for breaking down fat in the liver. While we will talk about the function and importance of fat in a diet in another article, having fat effectively broken down and processed is a must for a healthy nervous system.

Glucose and Glycogen

To understand how to manage carb intake understand why you feel hungry after a bagel or doughnut but not after bowl of oatmeal with the same number of calories needs understanding glucose, glycogen, and the glycemic index.

Glucose is what carbohydrates are broken down into so that they can be used. While carbs are responsible for muscular exertion, bodily functions, digestions, etc, it is only once broken down into this form that they can be used for those jobs.

Compare it to gas for car. While you put gas in your car to create energy to move, it’s not the gas itself that moves the car, but the energy that the gas creates when processed in the engine.

Glycogen is what your body puts into reserve for use later when there is extra glucose in your bloodstream. When you have excess glucose in your bloodstream you release insulin which chains together (polymerizes) the individual glucose molecules into glycogen. This process is called gluconeogenesis (glycogen + genesis/creation). The excess glucose now chained together as glycogen is stored inside of your fat cells for later use.

Glycemic Index

If you’re thinking ahead, you’ve probably realized the problem the above information presents. If you need a constant influx of carbohydrates for energy, can only eat at certain times during the day, but you have a limit on how much glucose can be stored in your blood, then how do you last the day?

If you’re asking that, you’re not alone. Anyone who struggles with being hungry throughout the day even when eating enough calories has the same difficulty. The trick to managing your hunger, so that you’re not hungry, but also not needing to eat every hour, is to understand the glycemic index.

Some carbohydrates digest and become glucose more quickly than others. Honey, for instance, is near the very top of the glycemic index chart, and is as close to instant glucose as you can get. Steel cut oatmeal on the other hand has a very low glycemic index rating. What that means is that it is much more slowly digested. That slow digestion provides a slow but constant release of glucose into your bloodstream so you always have energy available.

Being hungry does not mean your stomach is empty. Being hungry means that you have low blood sugar, that you do not have enough glucose readily available.

Put two and two together, and adding a low glycemic index food to every meal will keep you fuller much longer.

You can look over the glycemic index for yourself, here. While it’s not a complete list, it is extremely comprehensive.

So whether your goal is to lose weight, or just not be as hungry waiting for lunch at work – you can just replace the daily white bagel with a glycemic index of 103 with some banana bread with a glycemic index of 47.

CategoriesEvent

Holiday Hours & Class Schedule Changes

The Holidays are coming up!  Here are our hours and class schedule changes this month.
Please check back to verify hours and any canceled classes.

12/23: 10:15am Body Combat at Flow SLU canceled
12/24:  8am – 1pm
12/25:  closed ~ Merry Christmas!
12/26: 8am – 8pm (5:15pm yoga in Fremont canceled)
12/27: regular hours 5:30am-10pm (6am yoga and 6:30pm cycle in Fremont canceled)
12/28: regular hours 5:30am-10pm (6:15am Barre in Fremont canceled)
12/29: regular hours 5:30am-10pm  (5:30am Training Camp in Fremont canceled)
12/30:  regular hours 8am-7pm (10:15am Body Combat at SLU canceled)
12/31: 8am-3pm
1/1:  8am-7pm  – regular classes, team conditioning, training camp and small group sessions canceled.
New Year’s Class/Team Conditioning schedule:
10am Cycle at Flow Fremont with Chelsea
11am BodyPump at Flow SLU with Sara
12pm Yoga Flow at Flow SLU with Lauren
12pm Team Conditioning at Flow Fremont

January 2nd we return to regular hours and class schedule.
Happy Holidays!!

CategoriesEvent

Solstice Flow + Sound Bath: Stillness in Sound ~ December 21st, 7pm

As the start of our winter season arises we are called toward inward exploration. The colder seasons are a time for yin, our feminine energy, and for slowing down. Create the space in your life to transition through these changes mindfully. This practice will start with a gentle yoga flow encouraging fluidity in the mind and body. As we rest in our restorative postures the resonant sounds of crystal singing bowls will guide you further into your own experience. This practice will focus on the second chakra which allows us to connect to the element of water and go with the flow. This chakra is associated with our hips, creativity and our personal relationship with our physical body.

Gift yourself this time to honor your body, the constant change and cycles of life, and your creative potential. Asanas (yoga postures) are sacred shapes that align you with your truth and the vibrations of the live music surrounding you helps to shift blocked energy creating space for new thought patterns and creative flow.

Space is limited, register today.

Class Taught by our very own, Natalie and Jerred

CategoriesEvent

Turkey Blast! Thursday, November 23rd at 9am

Get ready for “Appetizers”, the “Entrée”, and “Dessert” before you partake in the real festivities with friends and family! Our Turkey Day 3-part workout combines athletic cardio drills, strength training, and core work that is sure to be a BLAST!

Bring a monetary donation for Food Lifeline and bring a friend for free!
Flow Fitness at SLU
Thursday, November 23rd at 9am 

CategoriesEvent

Gratitude Sound Bath – November 19th at 5:30pm

This special 90-minute yoga experience invites us to slow down, relax, and renew.  As we enter Thanksgiving week, and the “official” start of the holidays, it’s the perfect opportunity to flow some gratitude.

A soul-soothing Restorative Yoga practice infused with crystal bowl healing will encourage  openness in the body. Restorative Yoga is a completely passive practice that utilizes props in all of the poses to balance our fast-paced lifestyles and heal us, both physically and mentally. Because of its passive nature, Restorative is accessible to people of all ages and skill-levels, as well as those with injuries.

During this special session, we will quiet the mind, soothe the nervous system and increase mind/body awareness, all while being bathed in an ancient sound healing modality.

Class held at Flow Fitness in Fremont
Sunday, November 19th from 5:30-7pm
Sign up for class through the member portal.
Not a member? Sign up for the free two week trial here.

Taught by,

Flow Instructor, Gretchen Griffin & Andrea Cariño, a sound therapist

CategoriesBlog Live Fit. Nourish.

Balancing your Macronutrients

As with anything fitness related, balancing your macronutrients is another tool to put into the box that you use to help accomplish your goals.

If you are going to balance your macro nutrient intake, you first need to know what macronutrients are. The term ‘Macronutrient’ refers to “any of the nutritional components of the diet that are required in relatively large amounts: protein, carbohydrate, fat, and the macro minerals.”

Minerals, protein, fat, and carbohydrates. We’ll focus on those last three.

The Numbers

There are two major organizations referred to for the recommended nutrional balances. Those are the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the Institute of Medicine, now referred to as the National Academy of Medicine (NASEM).

The recommended intake for the three macronutrients we are discussing, according to these two institutions, are:

  • Carbohydrates
    • ACSM: 58% of the body’s total caloric intake
    • NASEM: 45-65% of the body’s total caloric intake
  • Fats (lipids)
    • ACSM: 20-30%
    • NASEM: 20-35%
  • Proteins
    • ACSM: 12%
    • NASEM: 12-35%

The range available for each macronutrient as listed by NASEM is a reflection of how your body needs different amounts of different nutrients based on your lifestyle and the amount of stress you place upon your body. For instance, while we all need fat in our diets, athletes playing for the Seahawks will need a diet focused more on proteins to maintain and build muscle, and carbohydrates for energy and for processing that protein.

Carbohydrates

These are the primary sources of energy in the human diet. They are broken down into simple carbohydrates and complex carbohydrates. The simple carbs are more easily, and more quickly, broken down into the glucose that you find in your bloodstream that is used as energy. This is reflected in stating that they have a high GI (glycemic index) value. This includes foods like honey, candy, and other sweets.

Carbohydrates are often given a bad reputation as simply being excessive calories. This is incorrect, though, for a reason we’ve already lightly touched. Neither of the other macronutrients can be broken down to utilized without the presence of carbohydrates in the liver. The fact that liver can only hold between 200-500 grams of carbohydrates at any given times means that there needs to be a regular influx of carbohydrates to continue to be able to process anything else that is eaten.

One gram of carbohydrates is equal to 4 calories.

Fats

First interesting fact about fats: there are 3,500 calories in one pound of fat.

Don’t think to burn all of that away immediately, though. You need fat to survive. Not only does fat act as an energy source, but it is essential for carrying the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K throughout the body. Fat is also responsible for making calcium available to the body. This is because fat helps the body to absorb vitamin D, which is essential for calcium absorption. Also, polyunsaturated fatty acids must be eaten in a healthy diet as they are essential to hormone production, are necessary components of cell membranes, even help reduce bad cholesterol levels in your blood, lowering your risk of strokes and heart disease.

Cholesterol is a type of fat, too, and it’s one you want. There are good and bad types of cholesterol, but in general it is key to know that it is essential for good health. This is because it is used in composing most body tissues, especially those of the liver, blood, brain, and nervous system. It is needed even for developing sex and adrenal hormones.

One gram of fat is equal to 9 calories.

Proteins

Protein is the most plentiful substance found in the human body next to water. It is composed of 20 different amino acids that the body needs, 9 of which must be consumed in the diet to obtain. While protein is most commonly associated with muscle, it is a major building material for the heart, brain, internal organs, skin, hair, nails, and even the blood. It is essential for forming hormones and regulating body functions. It is even active in making sure that the blood does not become either too acidic or too alkaline.

One gram of protein is equal to 4 calories.

With that you have a basic enough layout to understand the need for each of these macronutrients in your body, and the numbers to do the math to begin crossing the T’s and dotting the eyes to your own dietary requirements. Let’s kick the later off with an example for you to use.

Remember,

1 gram Fat = 9 Calories

1 gram Carb = 4 Calories

1 gram Protein = 4 Calories

If you have a 2,000 calorie a day diet and are aiming for a diet consisting of 20% fat, 35% protein, and 45% carbohydrates, that will look like this:

Fat = 400 calories from 44.4 grams.

Carbs = 900 calories from 225 grams.

Protein = 700 calories from 175 grams.

CategoriesBlog Nourish.

Counting Calories? Instead Use Your Hand for Life-Long Results

By Flow Trainer, Mackennon Klink, B.S., CSCS, CES, PN1

Losing weight is a fairly straight forward process: it comes down to calories in vs calories out.  You eat less, workout more, and soon enough, you’ll have that dream body, right?  Well….there’s a little more involved.  Let’s examine calorie counting, one of the most popular ways to measure calorie consumption. The idea being that you count every calorie you take in, aiming to be in a deficit against the calories you expend.  While it can work, it’s not the best long-term solution to the problem.

Why, you might ask?  Let me  tell you….

Calorie counting can quickly become tedious, inaccurate, and impractical, – especially if you are a busy professional.  Any conscious dietary change to achieve a physique goal will create some level of stress and difficult choices.  Anyone who’s gone through the calorie counting process has eventually asked themselves: did meal out fit within the allowed calories and how do I accurately track it? How many pumps of Pumkpin Spice can I have?  After a while, these questions can drive any person insane.

In addition, you might achieve your short-term physique goal, but the honest truth is that calorie counting is not a long term solution to maintain  your dream body. I know from experience.  In the Spring of 2017, I adhered  to a strict diet plan, and lost over 20 pounds in fat while building muscle in six short weeks.  While those six weeks were challenging (yet ultimately rewarding) the true challenge came to me right after:  how do I keep the weight off? 

Enter The Precision Nutrition Hand Guide.  I credit this guide to helping me control my portion sizes, maintain my current physique post diet and, more importantly, not going crazy or second guessing myself with every meal decision.

The goal of the hand size portion guide is to help you reach your nutrition and fitness goals without the tedious and somewhat difficult process of calorie counting.  This is a super simple and easy method to help keep calories in control and to learn portion sizes.  The best part is all you need is your hand.

The hand size methods works for a few reasons:

  1. Hands are portable.  Unlike food scales, your hands will always be with you.
  1. Hands are scaled to the individual.  Generally speaking, bigger people need more food and tend to have bigger hands, therefore getting larger portions.  Smaller people need less food, tend to have smaller hands and therefore receive smaller portions.
  1. By using your hand as a guide, it will provide reasonable amounts of nutrient dense food while still providing the necessary macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, and fats) and calorie needs. Nutrient dense foods will be your key attribute to any successful diet program, regardless if it’s fat loss or gain muscle.

In short, this guide will help you create a nutritional foundation or baseline without making it overly complicated.  Most people will start getting positive results by simply sticking to these simple recommendations.  As you progress, you can make adjustments to speed your process or overcome a plateau.

In the beginning, it may be a bit difficult to assess portion sizes, but practice makes perfect.  After a few meals, this method will become familiar and in no time this will be a breeze.  Take it one meal and one day at a time.

Total Daily Intake

Men

Women

Protein

6-8 palms

4-6 palms

Vegetables

6-8 fists

4-6 fists

Carb (optional)

6-8 cupped handfuls

4-6 cupped handfuls

Fat

6-8 thumbs

4-6 thumbs

Here’s another way to view your nutrition intake for each meal (assuming 3 meals each day).

Men

Women

Protein

1-2 palms

1 palm

Vegetables

1-2 fists

1 fist

Carbs (optional)

1-2 cupped handfuls

1 cupped handful

Fats

1-2 thumbs

1 thumb

This is your starting point.  This will allow you to get in the adequate food and calories to meet your goals.  Again, don’t worry about counting calories; you’re focusing on developing healthy eating habits. You have to build the foundation before you build the house. 

  You may be wondering what does that look like?  Well, because I like you, here’s a visual guide to the hand portion control.  Pretty simple right?

Wondering what that would look in a real world application? No problem.  I got you covered.   Here is another visual rep to help see what a (breakfast, lunch, dinner) plate should consist of:

This next plate illustrates what a “post-workout” looks like.  Eat a post workout meal within one hour of your weight training or intense exercise session.  This plate differs from the previous plate by taking advantage of the body’s metabolic response to exercise. After exercise, your body needs both carbs and protein to help rebuild your muscles and restore overall energy levels.

Depending on your fitness goals, you’ll modify your post workout meal.

  • Looking to gain lean mass or improve your recovery from your workouts?  Increase the carbs in your post-workout meal
  • Looking to lose body fat fast?  Keep starchy carbs low and post-workout.

Do you enjoy the calorie counting process and getting good results?  Great!  Continue doing what working for you!  If not, then you may want to switch to the hand portion guide. Calorie counting, while effective, isn’t a reliable long-term option for sustaining fat loss.  Calorie counting is an excellent tool to gain awareness and notice treads within your diet.

The key to any successful plan will be consistency. 

The best plans are rarely the best designed, most complex, or most scientifically in depth.  The best plans are practical and can be done consistently.  Regardless of what diet or exercise plan you’re doing, the key will consistency. 

CategoriesBlog Live Fit.

Establishing Your Target Heart Rate

If you walk into any commercial gym you’re likely to come across a field of treadmills, ellipticals, and stationary bikes. They have their use and are great tools if you have established your goals and understand how to reach them, but there are a few tools you need in your belt to actually make these tools useful to you so that you see results for all of your work.

Why not just embrace the “go as hard as you can and be a boss” mentality? Because there is a fine line to walk between pushing as far as your body can handle and pushing too far – not only hurting yourself right then and there – but over training to cause your body to break down and you have to deal with a slough of nasty side effects, such as:

  • Unhealthy weight loss
  • Decreased appetite
  • Insomnia
  • Depression
  • Loss of motivation
  • Irritability
  • Increased susceptibility to infections
  • Elevated resting heart rate
  • Increased risk and occurrence of injuries
  • Persistent muscle soreness

If you know where this line is, though, you can steadily improve your performance for the distances you can run and the time that you can run for. While that’s not the focus here, the same applies to weight training – you wouldn’t want to hit your heaviest lifts every day without giving your body time to rest. There’s an art to the process as much as there is to learning to play an instrument. To understand the nuances of the process is to steadily set personal records every few weeks as you continue to improve towards your goals.

No one wants to deal with the above symptoms, but if you just keep it slow and easy you’ll have no results for your hard work. Your body needs stress to adapt and make noticeable changes in health and/or appearance. If you don’t put in enough effort, you may as well be watching Simpsons reruns – for all the hours spent, nothing will ever come of it. Using guesswork to figure out your target heart rate is about as effective as using tarot cards to determine if you need your umbrella tomorrow.

The best range in which to work for both safety and effectiveness is called your target heart rate (THR).

How to Find Your THR

Enter the Karvonen formula:

Target Heart Rate = ((max heart rate – resting HR) x %intensity) + resting HR

Let’s break that down into English.

  • Maximum Heart Rate (MHR)
    • While not perfect, the simplest and most reliable way to establish your MHR is to subtract your age from 220. So, if you are 30 years old you would subtract 220 – 30 for an MHR of 190 beats per minute (BPM).
  • Resting Heart Rate (RHR)
    • There is both the precise way to find this, and the convenient way to find this. The precise way, as prescribed by the NCCPT for all of its trainers is to find your heart rate immediately upon waking up, while still laying down in bed. Do this for three mornings in a row and average them together for your RHR.
    • The convenient way, which is still useful if you need the number immediately, is to take your heart rate while sitting, having already been sitting still for about 5 minutes. It won’t be as accurate, but it is still close enough to use in a pinch.
  • % Intensity
    • This refers directly to your training intensity level. Depending on your goal you will be aiming for 50-85%. The lower end of this is for weight loss, and the upper extreme is for cardiovascular conditioning. Right in the middle is the typical goal for a healthy adult looking to lose weight, putting you at an intensity level of 60-70%. If you don’t hit at least 50%, though, you won’t accomplish much.

Let’s Do the Math

Let’s plug the numbers in using my own information:
RHR = 72

MHR = 192

%Intensity = 75%

Target Heart Rate = ((max heart rate – resting HR) x %intensity) + resting HR

Target Heart Rate = ((192 – 72) x 75%) + 72

This comes out to a target heart rate of 162 beats per minute for me personally aiming for 75% training intensity.

Keep in mind when using this yourself that the optimal intensity level for fat oxidation, that is, burning fat for energy, lies between 60.2 and 80% intensity level/MHR.